Alcohol and Medication: A Dangerous Mix for Rockford Addicts

The greater Chicago area has essentially earned a name for itself for being a drug abuse and addiction capital of the nation. This is an area that has recently come under what might be the worst prescription drug abuse nightmare and heroin abuse epidemic the likes of which this nation has never see before explain psychologists at Drug Rehab Rockford. True enough, prescription drug abuse became really popular in the greater Chicago area about twelve years ago, and when people started to run out of money or resources for pills, the heroin dealers showed up to offer up heroin at a reduced price and increased dosages. The result? An entire metro area that is now the opiate abuse capital of the nation, if not the world.

Rockford has not been able to entirely escape this problem, yet in Rockford the addiction issue is slightly different. For this city, the biggest problem when it comes to drug and alcohol abuse and addiction it would seem that the biggest problem is actually with prescription drugs and alcohol, not prescription drugs and heroin says Drug Rehabilitation Rockford. This might sound like a good thing, but that is not necessarily the case. Prescription drugs and alcohol do not mix well, and unfortunately that is exactly what most addicts in Rockford are doing; they are abusing both alcohol and pills.

The abuse of alcohol and pills in tandem makes for a deadly cocktail of substance abuse and addiction. The truth of the matter is that this crisis is certainly a bad one to say the least, and the overall effect of this is that addiction is a crisis one way or the other, and when you double the substance abuse items, you double the crisis, and when those two drugs work in tandem with each other to make the situation even worse you triple the crisis.

What Pill Popping and Boozing in Rockford Really Does

Abusing alcohol while also popping pills has a devastating effect on the individual. Truth be told, this is an issue that is seen and seen again time and time again with worse and worse effects each time it would seem. To shed some light on what happens when one abuses alcohol and takes pills, some facts have been listed below:

The drugs that are taken: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen, naproxen and aspirin, taken to reduce pain, inflammation, fever, and headache.

What can happen when they are mixed with alcohol: If you drink three or more alcoholic beverages a day and you take one of these drugs, even if just on a rare occasion, your risk of experiencing bleeding in the stomach increases considerably and becomes quite dangerous. In fact, a study from Boston University School of Medicine found that the incidence of upper gastrointestinal bleeding was highest among those were both heavy drinkers and regular users of ibuprofen or aspirin.

The drugs that are taken: Narcotic analgesics (like codeine and morphine), used to treat moderate to severe pain in any part of the body.

Drinking alcohol while taking one of these drugs can lead to dangerous side effects, including coma or death, or full on addiction to both.

The drugs that are taken: Muscle relaxants such as carisoprodol, cyclobenzaprine and baclofen, used to treat back pain and various muscle spasms of varying severity.

What can happen when they are mixed with alcohol: When taken with alcohol, these drugs may produce a worrisome reaction that includes extreme weakness, dizziness, agitation and confusion, according to research from Purdue University. They can also cause further addiction and abuse later on.

Pills and alcohol go together like cats and dogs: not so well. The big problem according to Drug Rehab Rockford is that those who are addicted tend to be addicted to both. To avoid this, the main focus now needs to be to get all who are addicted and afflicted in Rockford into and through an inpatient, residential, drug and alcohol addiction and dependence treatment center, detox facility, rehab program, and recovery organization.